LECTURE 5: CLASSROOM

MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Classroom management is an important area in
education for any teacher because it offers an
insight on how the teacher would survive in that
particular classroom for the next 40 minutes or
so. Being strict, abusive or a disciplinarian may
not make you an effective teacher. Good
teachers make it happen in the classroom, in the
hallways, on the playground, and in every other
corner of the school every day of the year. The
lecture, therefore, exposes different ways of
managing teaching, students and the classroom
resources.
Lesson objectives
By the end of the lecture, the learner should be
able to:
1.Define classroom management
 2.Explain different ways of managing
classroom lessons
3.Outline various causes of class indiscipline
4.Design a good classroom layout with
necessary educational resources
What is classroom management?
Classroom management involves all aspects of
what is going on in the classroom while a lesson
is being taught by the teacher. It is how the
students interact with the teacher in the
classroom but also extended into the
surrounding atmosphere in which students
learn as well. Classroom management includes
the elements of classroom discipline, but
focuses more on creating a peaceful learning
situation that is comfortable, organized,
engaging, and respectful for both the teacher
and the students. Everyone who works in or
around schools knows that classrooms are
different. Students are different. Problems are
different. Teachers do different things in class.
But the bottom line is that teachers have a
common goal(s) to accomplish in any given
classroom. These goals could be to set high
standards of discipline, to teach effectively and
achieve the organizational objectives.
Classroom management is a multi-faceted
activity that goes beyond mere behavior
management. It involves developing supportive
structures among students that optimize
students’ access to learning.
Management of lessons in class
The core mandate of any classroom teacher is
to organize himself or herself to conduct a
lesson in the most recommended way that
leaves the students satisfied with the teaching
and learning process. This cannot come from
the blues, the teacher needs an adequate
preparation before and during and after the
lesson preparation. The preparations before
teaching had been discussed under planning for
instruction.
Lesson beginnings
The beginning of any lesson is when the teacher
gets into the classroom to conduct his or her
lesson. The teachers’ appearance in class is a
communication to the class that a serious
activity is set to start. The law of averages
according to Tuner (2007) states that students
who have learnt for a period of time develops a
dynamic and unique character that makes them
completely different from any other groups.
They can either decide for the best or the worst.
That is, they can decide to cooperate or fail to
cooperate. Therefore, teacher’s first impression
in any class is very significant for the success
of any lesson. Butt (2008) gave the following
suggestions for teachers to observe for effective
beginning of the lesson:
• If possible arrive in the classroom before
the start of the lesson and check the sitting
arrangement, organize the teaching and
learning resources and ensure that you have
 everything you will need for your lesson
ready.
• Greet the students and inform them of the
next action. For example, take out your
books for the geography lesson.
• Manage students to ensure those who are
talking are quite and listening. Classroom
sitting arrangement should have all short
students in sitting in front and the tall ones
sitting behind for clear visibility of all
activities undertaken by the teacher.
• Spell out the objectives of the lesson. This
is because students perform best when they
are well informed of the purpose of the
lesson and how they are expected to behave
within the classroom during the lesson.
This is not only limited to their behavior but
also academically.
• Try to memorize/recall the names of all
students such that during the lesson you are
 able to directly refer to specific students by
their names.
• Be consistent and elaborate on activities
you want students to do. Lack of clarity
may create confusion and
misunderstandings between the teacher and
the students.
Lesson development
The introduction of the lesson is associated
with professional elements such as creation of
conducive learning atmosphere, recall of the
previous knowledge, arousal of interest in
learners and provision of smooth transition in
the lesson (Kafu,2010). Lesson development is
a more serious component of the lesson that
breaks the even point. It creates the path for
learners’ progression in awareness and mastery
of the new concepts. Mismanagement of this
stage of teaching may mean that the lesson
objectives as stated are not achieved. While
putting into consideration the theory of spiral
curriculum, it is at this stage in most lessons
where students transit from known to unknown.
That is, building from a known simple concept
to an increasingly more difficult concept. To
manage this section well the teachers should:
• Organize presentation in a logical and
coherent manner. Lesson content organized
in such a way that students are given time
to participate in the teaching learning
process.
• Class control and discipline policy should
be put in practice. Use your voice to help
maintain order. Simple eye to eye contact
with students would make a lot of impact.
• Manage individual differences in class. The
slow learners should be given more
attention than the fast learners but both
parties should achieve the lesson goals and
objectives.
• Management of instructional materials.
Students should only make references to the
 instructional materials on permission from
the teacher. Teaching aids and technology
plan should be utilized correctly at the
appropriate time.
• Time management is critical for this stage.
Transition from one activity to the other
activity needs proper timing. Ensure you go
round the class to assist individual students
at the time of need.
• Management of evaluation process. The
evaluation plan during the lesson should be
well structured to cater for individual
differences. Make assignment and
questions realistic. All students to be
catered for and the teacher to assist where
necessary.
• Practical lessons should be demonstrated
and students given time to practice. Proper
management of resources during the
practical lessons should be observed so that
 unnecessary breakages and accidents are
minimized.
Conclusion of the lesson
When winding up the lesson, the management
of the students should be perfect because the
conclusion phase is the peak of every lesson.
There should be a strategy for ending the
lesson. The end of the lesson should not be
abrupt but slick and orderly. A number of
activities are expected at this stage:
• A summary of what has been learnt should
be provided. The summary should capture
all the key ingredients of the study.
• The teacher should accept and respond to
students queries on the lesson. Students’
questions and queries should only be
dismissed logically without rushing.
• The classroom should be left as it was. All
the teaching aids and practical items should
be cleared within the time frame of the
lesson. The incoming teacher should not be
 kept waiting when clearance is still being
done.
• Organize a plenary to help students reflect
on what had been learnt and at least direct
the students to the next learning activity to
be undertaken. Preliminary meetings will
communicate the achievement of the lesson
objectives.
Class discipline
Students in schools come from different
backgrounds. They are not empty vessels. They
carry with them a number of good and bad
experiences of life. Some of these learning
experiences are gained formally and to a greater
extent, students also learn informally.
Therefore, teachers should expect a
heterogeneous class whereby each student
exhibits a completely unique behavior. In real
sense, no teacher wants to have poor discipline
in his or her class. For effective class control,
the input of the teacher is absolutely necessary
because without dedicated teachers, there is no
effective discipline in any school. Indiscipline
in class may be in several ways:
• Refusal to do an assignment
• Bullying of fellow students
• Dragging of seats while the lesson is on
• Withdrawal and sometimes sleeping when
the lesson is on
• Bitter exchange of words with the teacher
• Murmuring in class
• Physically fight in the class
• Indecent dressing in class
• Using both the course textbook and the
writing pads irresponsibly etc
While the professional teachers would always
struggle to do their best, they equally should
prepare for the worst in a classroom. It is
important to note that there are no two similar
classes but effective communication from the
teacher to the class would minimize cases of
class indiscipline. There is no known best
method of maintaining class discipline but it is
important for the teacher to teach what makes
sense to the students. Teachers should develop
a class management plan and strategies. A
classroom management plan will establish
clear rules, set class norms and define
consequences. On the other hand, classroom
management strategies are necessary for
keeping the students engaged, connected and
on-task as much as possible and, therefore, less
likely to be disruptive during the class time.
The classroom management strategies may
include the following:
• Being genuine and sincere with praise. Do
not mock students in class.
• Give clear instructions to students
• Greet students any time you get into the
class. This should be your first classroom
activity always.
• Study carefully the seating plan to learn the
positions and names of all students in class
 • Handle disagreements in class with respect.
The teacher should know how to position
himself between the conflicting parties.
• Balance your role as a teacher and
facilitator of learning. Students’ views
should be accommodated in your lesson
Todays’ classrooms
Classrooms are known to be the central point
for effective engagement of learning. Schools
are made of classrooms where a particular
learning content for a specific group of learners
are taught. Such a learning space may have a
proportionate number of learners based on the
government regulations or the needs of
particular content in subject area. And because
a classroom is a social place, teachers should
expect the following in most classrooms in the
modern times:
• Students who are more technology literate
and may outsmart them in a number of
computer applications
 • More digitalized classrooms where
technology usage and integration are given
more emphasis.
• Very large numbers of students due to
increase in populations against limited
infrastructures.
• Younger students who are addicted to drugs
• Students are armed with dangerous
weapons such as guns
• Students know and can defend their rights
in a court of law
• More stressed students due to home
problems
• Students who have no respect to home
culture because of the influence from
foreign cultures.
• Resourceful and knowledgeable students
who source for the information from the
internet
To conclude, there should be a well-structured
system of responding to indiscipline cases in a
school. Some schools appoint school prefects
to assist the school administration in the
management of indiscipline cases in school. In
other schools, that docket is assigned to a
member of staff. In classroom situation, it is up
to the instructor to decide which path of
correction should be taken. A number of
classroom teachers adopt the negative
reinforcement method where the culprits are
given some light duties to do or given an extra
class assignment to do. But all in all discipline
cases should be formalized so that there is
documentary evidence on the nature of
indiscipline and the action that was taken.
Whatever form of punishment administered
should aim at rehabilitating the student and not
harming. The following forms used to
document indiscipline cases in a class or a
school.
1.Student behavior form
This kind of document will assist the school to
monitor the behavior of students on a day to day
basis. The behavior of the student is recorded
and finally a summary for each student is drawn
for decision making. The student behavior form
can be used for counseling and for further
investigations especially if a particular
unbecoming behavior is repetitive. There
should be comments on every student behavior
as recorded in this form.

Sample of student behavior form

Name of the school------------------------------------
Date Name Class/ Nature place Action Time
Form of taken/puni
offence shment
given

2.Behavior improvement form

After the administration of punishment, there is
expectation that there will be an improvement
in a student’s behavior. This is a commitment
form that the student will change his unwanted
behavior and that failure to do so the school
would not hesitate to take further disciplinary
action. The disciplinary action to be taken
should commensurate the nature of the offence
committed.
 Sample of Behavior improvement form

Date:
_____________________________________
___ Time: ________________________
Student's Name:
_____________________________________
________________________
Teacher's Name:
________________________Designation
______________________
Staff description of problem/situation:
________________
Student description of what
happened:________________
Student’s commitment: I understand that if
the problem happens again, the school
authority will take an appropriate action
against me
Student’s signature
________________________________Date_
__________________
Teacher’s signature
________________________________Date_
__________________

Classroom organization and layout

The organization of a classroom to a greater
extent is determinant of the success of a lesson.
This is because the classroom environment is
the second environment after the student’s
home environment. Compared to their homes,
students stay longer in classrooms when they
are at school. Untidy and disorganized
classrooms demotivate students and grossly
interfere with the way teachers teach and how
learners react to the content being taught. The
arrangement of a classroom is the responsibility
of the teacher and this should be monitored
before every lesson.
The arrangements of desks should allow the
movement of the instructor in between the
rows. When the class is not properly arranged,
students are likely to have trouble walking in
and out of the classroom when the lesson is on.
The teacher should make a decision depending
on the size of the classrooms and the number of
students who should be in a particular class
because congestion in a class is also dangerous
for the lives of the learners. The highly
infectious diseases such as COVID-19,
tuberculosis, measles etc may spread very fast
in such classes. Teachers like any other public
officers are fully accountable for any negligent
action(s) that may be dangerous to the
students’ health.
The organization of the classroom is also
dependent on the teaching strategy. Most
teacher centered methods of teaching have
desks arranged in such a way that all students
face the teacher. For student centered
approaches, the students’ desks may be
arranged in such a way that students are facing
one another for group work and not necessarily
facing in front as the normal practice. Students
taking practical lessons may have individual
work stations with care taken so that explosive
and highly flammable materials safety kept and
only utilized or removed under safety
measures.
The classrooms for learning should also have
the technology plan. A number of technologies
such as overhead projectors and computers
may be used in the classrooms from time to
time. These electronic technologies use
electricity therefore the positioning of power
sockets, projection surface and computer desks
should be put in mind. And because overhead
projectors need some space between the
projection surface and the projector, the
projector should be positioned in a way that the
movement of the teacher as he controls the
projector does not block the rest of the class
from seeing the projected content.
Teaching is always accompanied with a
number of teaching and learning aids. Some
teaching aids such as the whiteboards and chalk
walls are permanently fixed on the classroom
walls while others like charts, real objects,
models etc are movable. The classroom plan
should accommodate these teaching and
learning aids at their right places in the
classroom. They should be visible to all
students without straining. Some teaching and
learning aids like the nature corner should be
positioned in some safe spacious place in the
classroom that can allow full access of the class
members at any time of need.
However, not all the teaching and learning aids
should be positioned in the classroom. An extra
room which in most cases is referred to us the
Learning Resource Centre may be used to
accommodate these materials. Learning
resource centers are spacious enough to
accommodate a number of teaching and
learning aids which may not be of immediate
use to the teacher. The teacher may decide to
conduct his lesson in the learning resource
center or the classroom but the regulations
guiding the layout of a good classroom is also
applicable to the learning resource center.
A good classroom layout should provide for
proper ventilations including the entry point
and the exit points for students. Some
classrooms have two doors. One the door is
used for entry while the other door is for the
exit. The layout should also show which
direction the students should take in an event of
emergency such as an outbreak of fire. There
should be fire exit doors. Classroom windows
must not be grilled to allow for exit during fire
outbreak or stampede in a school.
In conclusion, the standard size of a physical
classroom is dependent on the number of
learners and a country’s education policy.
Before the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020,
the Ministry of Education in Kenya
recommended a maximum of 40 students in a
secondary school classroom but with the
emergence of this dangerous virus, the number
could reduce to 20 students in 10m by 8m
classroom.

Learning activities
1.In your own words, explain how you can
maintain class discipline during your 40
minutes lesson class
2.Explain some of the considerations you
need to put in place when you are
designing a classroom for your school.
LECTURE 6: INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
Introduction
Individual differences are different areas of
uniqueness in human beings. They explain
reasons why human beings behave differently
either individually or in a group. In the
education set up, students are different in many
perspectives: physical characteristics (height,
weight), intelligence, interest, perception,
gender, ability, learning styles and personality
traits. But the teaching learning process is
supposed to cater for these differences because
teachers’ lack of knowledge on such
differences amongst students may cause
students not to participate in the learning-
teaching process and thus increase in academic
failure. This lecture is going to explore
different ways by which teachers or the
learning institution should cater for individual
differences in students.

Lecture objectives
By the end of the lecture the learner should be
able to:
1.Group students into different categories of
learning
2.Explore individual differences in learners
3.Explain different ways of catering for
individual differences in school

Categories of students in class

Didactic models of teaching and learning carry
the assumption that all learners are similar.
They assume that students possess common
capabilities and capacity to learn. This
assumption to a greater extent is incorrect. An
education class is made up of students from
different cultural, hereditary and social
backgrounds. Therefore, their learning styles,
attitude towards learning, rate of absorption of
what is learnt, class achievement can’t be same.
When planning as a teacher it is not advisable
to have a blanket plan for all the students. Every
learner is different nearly in all aspect of
learning. Different students need different
methods of approaches to teaching and learning
because every class is made up of different
groups of students. Different scholars have
come up with different classifications of
students in a classroom situation expressed or
grouped in different words but they all serve
one purpose.
 According to Good and Power (1976) as cited
by Kubat (2018), students are divided into five
categories as follows:
A) Successful Students
These are students who tend to learn with ease.
They are academically successful and prone to
cooperate in the learning process. Their level of
participation in the course is satisfactory and
this leads to very little discipline problem in
class. They are committed and from time to
time meeting the timelines of submission of
homework assignments.

B) Social Students
This category of students is outgoing and
choosy on assignments. They perform best
when working as a team. Majority of them
perform much better when they are offered the
opportunity to lead their groups. Their
preferences are activities that have the
capacity to achieve but socialize with their
friends.
C) Dependent Students
Learners in this classification need more
teacher support and motivation. Besides the
normal classwork, they are quick to engage
other people for additional clarification and
help. Sometimes they feel unfit to join their
peers because they feel inadequate in
knowledge. This inadequacy may lead to
isolation by their classmates.
D) Alienated Students
Alienated students are reluctant to learn and
have the potential to leave the school. Some of
these students refuse to even come to school.
They are ever troublesome and dangerous to
keep in school. A number of them are ever on
punishment and perform dismally because of
their lack of attention in studies. Majority of
them are kept in school to mature in age for
them to leave schooling. They are known to
have no respect for everyone and can create
hostile attacks to teachers and students. They
are inseparable with weapons.
E) Phantom Students
Phantom students are not recognized or heard
in the class. Some of them are shy, nervous
and quiet. This doesn’t mean that students in
this category do not perform. It’s difficult for
teacher’s to gauge their performance when
they are in a group. They do the activities
regularly but rarely participate in group work
because they do not make contributions.

O’ Brien and Guiney (2001) as cited

Butt(2008) added that successful
differentiation is not a bout planning to
troubleshoot for some students but must be a
practice for all students. In addition, they noted
that the following principles should guide any
differentiation of students:
• All children have a right to education
• Every child can learn
• Every teacher can learn
• Learning is a process that involves mutual
relationships
• Progress for all will be expected,
recognized and rewarded
• People and learning systems can change for
the better.
Individual differences in learners
Individual differences are varied. Individual
differences are grouped based on observable
characteristics. The following could be found
in most categories:

1.Physical differences
Students are different in their physical
characteristics. Teachers will realize that there
are students whose physical growths are a head
their ages. We can see them taller than and
bodied than their age mates. Some students are
tall, some are short, or plump or thin, clumsy or
agile, strong or frail. The chin, the nose, the
hands etc will all add up to variations in
physical appearance. During adolescents,
physical appearance features may be modified.
Boys and girls grow into manhood and
womanhood. But as much as a lot of changes
take place during adolescence the basic
physical characteristics remain throughout
someone’s lifespan.
2.Temperamental differences
Temperament is the expression of those mental
and emotional qualities that do not entirely
depend on intelligence. It is difficult to judge
somebody’s temperament until you see him
behave in some way. People respond and react
differently when provoked. Temperament is a
product of heredity and the environment.
Sometimes teachers find themselves
mishandling students because of their behavior
in a certain way and forgetting that even the
teacher’s temperament is also hereditary
controlled. On that note, even teacher’s
response to a student’s behavior will not be
similar. Like students, some teachers overreact
on issues while some can take time to reason.
In some instances temperament is shaped by
experience. More experienced teachers to some
extent have the ability to control their tempers.
Temperament has no absolute measure but
observant teachers can learn individual
student’s temperament and learn how to handle
him or her. When temperament is not properly
handled in school then mere passing of
examinations by students may not make a lot of
sense. We have heard of very successful stories
academically but cannot fit in the society
because of their tempers.
 3.Differences in intelligence
It is said that intelligence is the driver of the life
of a human being. We cannot exactly say what
it is but it is intelligence that enables people to
learn. It dictates the rate of reasoning,
answering questions and interaction with the
environment. Intelligence is inherited and
cannot be increased. We tend to measure
intelligence whereby in terms of Intelligence
Quotient (IQ).Students in any given classroom
have different intelligence levels. It is
estimated that the intelligence level of an
average student is always 100. Therefore, it is
the core duty of the teacher to establish and
categorize students based on their intelligence
levels. This is particularly important when the
teacher is providing individualized instruction
and evaluation.
4.Differences in special aptitudes
Aptitude is the natural ability to do something.
Even though it is the intelligence that dictates
all human activity, there are individuals whose
general intelligence levels may be low but are
gifted naturally in some areas. There are, of
course, students who perform dismally in
academics but are naturally talented in some
areas that may not need academics. To some
other students, their intelligence is biased
towards a particular area of knowledge. Castle
(1966) noted that in any class of 30 students,
there are students with special aptitude in:
• High ability to remember
• Verbal aptitude, that is, ability in using
words and acquiring good vocabulary
• Mathematical aptitude, that is, the natural
ability to calculate and see the relationship
between numbers
• Mechanical aptitude, that is, aptness in
dealing with tools and machines
• Spatial aptitude, that is, capacity to see
relationship of size, shape, form and
thickness to any given problem
• Manual aptitude which is found in skilled
dress-maker, carpenter, wood-carver etc
• Artistic aptitude which is basically useful in
drawing, painting etc
Mentally gifted and talented students
Mentally gifted students are students whose
performances are above their chronological
age. Teachers should learn to recognize this
category of students and develop activities
that can challenge them fullest. In many
cases, teachers fail to plan for the gifted
students on grounds that they are always
above others but the truth of the matter is that
this is the group that get bored very quickly if
they do not face challenging tasks. This is
because the gifted students will complete
their assignments ahead of the class. Here are
some suggestions by Butt (2018) on how to
handle the mentally gifted and talented
students:
• Understand the difficult concepts and try
to make logical meanings out of them.
Always arrive at the conclusions and if
possible give the solutions to the problem.
Do not leave the problem hanging.
• Communicate effectively using both oral
and written words. Effective
communication makes the gifted learners
to build confidence in the teacher.
• Reason, argue and think logically
• Have a wide range of knowledge
• Present information clearly and
accurately. Teaching aids such as charts
and graphs may be used to make your
work more meaningful.
• Transfer knowledge from one subject to
the other.
• Understand their views and opinions and
if possible engage them in constructive
talks.
Slow learners
This category of students is neither stupid nor
idiots. They have the ability to learn except in a
slower pace than the averagely recommended
pace. A good example is when they are faced
with a mathematical calculation that can take
roughly 2 minutes to do, they may take slightly
longer duration to calculate. They are less
mentally mature than the rest of the students in
their grade.

Characteristics of slow learners

• They always feel adequate in class. This is
because the finish their assignments last.
• They shy off from group discussion on
grounds that other students would isolate
them because of no constructive debate in
the discussion
• They possess low fundamental skills both
in oral and written work
 • They exhibit very poor study skills. They
may have study schedules but get very little
from such studies
• Their mental ability is low. The IQ is much
less that range from of the normal IQ of
between 80 and100
• Because of lack of confidence, slow
learners usually accept responsibility
willingly for routine tasks.
Ways of catering for individual differences
in school
Every student in class needs the attention of the
teacher. Planning for a class, therefore, should
put into consideration the needs and the
abilities of individual students. Butt (2008)
suggested the following ways of catering for
individual differences of the learners:
1.Use of oral question and answer
Teachers need to differentiate on who would
answer the most technical questions in class
instantly and who needs more time to answer
such questions. The students with high
intelligent quotients need more challenging and
analytical questions that may make them think
deeper rather than questions that require simple
recall of knowledge. However, teachers must
balance questioning in class. Different
categories of students should benefit from
questioning. Difficult questions may be
rephrased to make them simple and
understandable for low achievers. Depending
on the nature of the lesson, questions may be
posed and answered in groups or individually.
2.Use of a support teacher
In a class we have students with special needs.
They may be deaf, blind etc and sometimes
their educational needs may not be met with
normal teachers. Teachers must prepare to
differentiate his or her teaching methodology to
suit this group. The teaching approach may be
different in timing for an activity because the
students with special needs may need more
time. However, it is advisable that an expert in
special needs be engaged to help in teaching
this category of students in a different way from
the normal teaching styles. In case a support
specialist may not be available for the lessons,
he or she should be engaged at the planning
stage. The specialist can guide the teacher on
what exactly should be done to satisfy the needs
of the challenged students.
3.Use of preferred learning styles
Different students learn differently. Some are
good on reading on their own while another
group would prefer actual teaching in class.
There are a number of learning styles but they
do not suit all learners. There are students
whose concentration span is long and would
require additional learning activity to do on
their own. These kinds of students are ever in
contact with students. Even though curriculum
developers have defined the duration of lessons
in different levels of institutions, teachers are
required to study their students more and help
them score higher in academics based on their
preferred learning styles. The students with a
short concentration span do not concentrate in
long lecture hours and may be engaged in other
class activities of their interest. Teachers must
also be careful in differentiating students in line
of their learning styles because it may become
a complicated affair to meet lesson objectives
within the stipulated time.
4.Use of assessment
Teachers should know that a mathematical sum
that needs a lot of attention from John in class
is mediocre attempt by James. James can do
three more of such sums in an equivalent
duration that John takes to attempt a single
similar sum. Experienced teachers should learn
to give more assignments to the gifted and
talented students but if the number of
assignments have to be the same then the
teacher should differentiate the difficulty index
of questions for slow learners and mentally
gifted students. Differentiated approach would
assist the teacher to monitor the progress of
learners individually and not as a class. This is
only practical for formative evaluation.
5.Use of free periods
Learners particularly the less mentally gifted
students may need some extra work to catch up
with the rest in class. Teachers can utilize such
opportunities for coaching weak students.
Some schools refer to it as remedial coaching.
Remedial coaching must not be done to the
whole especially if some students had met the
lesson objectives because to them it would like
repetition of lessons which is not healthy to
students who have grasped the concept because
they would be bored.
In conclusion, we can say that the level of
preparation for schools teaching and learning
may not matter when individual differences of
learners are not taken into account. In fact, a
number of schools are equipped with state-of-
the-art equipment, better physical conditions,
perfect training program and highly qualified
teachers but students will not succeed unless
teachers take into account the individual
differences of the students.
Learning activities
Explain intelligence in your own words. Give
examples of intelligence at work:
a. In your own life
b.In children you have taught

LECTURE 7: MEASUREMENT AND

EVALUATION
Introduction
Educationally to measure educationally means
to quantify of learners scores with the aim of
making judgment. In measurement we use tools
such as examinations. Evaluation on the other
hand is the process of establishing the
efficiency and effectiveness of the system. The
school is made up of several systems such as
the teachers’ instructional strategies, students’
success, curriculum, examinations etc.
Evaluation gives the feedback on the goals and
objectives of the programs of the organization.
Both measurement and evaluation are
necessary for an educational program to
communicate to the stakeholders in education
on the strengths and weaknesses of the
educational system. This lecture is going to
different types of evaluation and tests that are
used in the educational set ups and the
importance attached to them.
Lecture objectives
By the end of this lecture, the learner should be
able to:
1.List different types of tests
 2.Highlight the properties of a good test
3.Explain the different types of evaluation
Test
In the school set up, tests are examinations
intended to measure knowledge, skill or an
attitude gained by the learner after a learning
experience. Tests directly measure the
achievement of student in a particular area of
the students. Test is a presentation of standard
expressed in some value such as numerical
value. Tests may be administered during the
lesson, at the end of the study topic or at the end
of the study program.
Types of tests
There are a number of teats but the most
commonly used in schools are:
1.Essay tests
2.Objective tests
Essay tests
Essay tests are structured tests where the
students present their responses in sentences
and paragraphs. They are also called subjective
tests because the student has been given the
leeway to give answers out of his/her
reasoning. In this type of test students are given
the opportunity to show their creativity in
writing and answering questions. Unlike
objective questions, subjective tests are few in
number but may attract more personal
expressions. The students are allowed to think
outside the box and reorganize their content in
less restricted format of written. In most cases
essay tests are preferred for students who can
express them in writing. It therefore, requires
the student to be a good writer to score higher.
Limitations of essay tests
Essay tests do not favor those students who
cannot read and write properly. This is because
the point of expression in writing is a
requirement for essay tests. Setting essay based
questions but very difficult to mark because all
the examinees express themselves differently.
That may mean that there is no absolute
marking scheme for essay questions. Essay
questions may lack adequate coverage of the
entire syllabus because only a few questions are
set based on the fact that it take much more time
to answer. Wrongly set essay questions confuse
students. This confusion may make even the
bright students to give irrelevant or wrong
answers.
Objective tests
In objective tests, the examiner controls the
outcome of the test. Students are only allowed
to choose from a number of options given by
the examiner. Compared to essay questions,
objective questions are more but take a shorter
time to answer. Objective tests are difficult to
set because the examiner must balance other
options to make it difficult for unskillful
students to get the right answer. In most cases,
unprepared students guess answers which
ultimately lead to rote learning even if the
answer is correct. And because several
objective tests only assign grades as answers,
there are higher chances of lifting or collusion
which results in examination irregularity.
Objective tests may be used in all levels of
learning but needs skillful examiner. One good
reason for using objective questions is that they
are easy to mark even when you are faced by a
big population of students.
Formats of objective tests
Object tests may appear in several formats:
• Matching items
• Short answer items
• True-false answers
• Multiple choice tests
Matching items
In matching items, there are two sections
provided. The words or concepts or statements
are intentionally disarranged and the learner is
expected to reorganize the first section and the
second section so that they correspond. Ensure
the provided list is logical and proofread to
have no errors. Errors and wrong answers make
it practically difficult to correctly match items.
For example, you would be asked to match the
following countries with their capital cities:
Country City
Kenya Darussalam
Uganda Lagos
Tanzania Nairobi
Rwanda Kampala
Nigeria Kigali
Short answer items
Short answer items may statements that need
completion with a word or questions that do not
demand a lengthy response. For example: Who
was the first president of Kenya?
_______________________________
Multiple choice tests
Multiple choice tests is a kind of test where
questions are set and more than one options are
given to picked as the correct answer(s).It is the
most common type of objective test. The
number of options or choices given depends on
the nature of the test. Some tests are
dichotomous in nature, for example, what is the
gender of our president? With no exceptional
abnormal cases of both male and female, the
realistic choices would be male or female. In
some other tests, the examiner may list as many
as five options with only one correct answer.
But remember some of these options but the
examiner may ask for the best answer. A more
advanced type of multiple choice tests could be
open ended where examinees are asked to
analyze every option and pick all or a few or
none as the correct answer. Multiple choice
tests have the capacity to test a number of
knowledge skills such as recall, understanding,
applications etc or a combination of all.
Depending on the level tested, the examiner
will always change the level of homogeneity to
make the test more challenging.
Factors to consider when developing
multiple choice tests
• Ensure the entry level of learners is
considered. This will define the level of
difficulty and the degree of homogeneity of
the choices.
• There must be a stem for multiple choice
tests. The stem must be clear and
meaningful before a number of choices are
provided for the right answer to be picked.
• Of the choices presented, ensure there is the
right answer. In case you needed the best
answer, ensure it’s provided among the
options.
 • In case you have several items, vary the
position of the answer to discourage
guesswork. For example, you cannot have
option A as the answer for all items
• To make the test meaningful, ensure the
distractors are not obviously noticeable and
possibly should be drawn from the broader
area of study. For example, distractors in
the field of mathematics should come from
mathematics and not history.
• There should be a pattern of presenting all
the choices. For example, if your options
are presented using alphabetical orders,
then all other options should be presented
in letters. It’s not wise to mix up numerals
and alphabetical letters in one item.
• Both the test item and the multiple choices
should be clear and grammatically correct.
Avoid ambiguous and meaningless tests
that are outside the study objectives.
Example of multiple choice test item
Kenya has how many counties
___________________
A) 8
B) 4
C) 7
D) 47
True false test item
In this kind of test, the examiner sets test items
that require the examinee to indicate whether
the statement is true or false. It is necessary for
the coverage of wider content in a short time.
However true false statements may greatly be
influenced by luck which in the long run give
very little desirable results. In true false items,
examiners need to mix up both negative and
positive statement but to a larger extent; most
test items need to be positive. True false items
are easy to construct but teachers should be
careful so that they do not look ambiguous.
Example of True/False tests item
A bus travels on air
Characteristics of a good test
A good test should have some unique features
that makes it outstanding in measuring the
achievement or failure of the set objectives of
the program. The following are some suggested
characteristics of a good test:
Reliability
Reliability means the results received from any
administered test is consistent with the outcome
of the previous examinations. This means the
test must relate to the expected outcome of the
learning experience. We can measure the
consistency of the results could be achieved by
giving examinations of almost same difficulty
index more than one times. The examiner can
also test the reliability of an examination when
it is administered for the second time after some
time frame without communicating to the
students that such examination would be done
twice. A reliable test should just come from the
set objectives of the program.
Objectivity
Tests are designed to fairly measure the amount
of knowledge that a student has acquired. The
objectivity of the test lies on the fact that two
independent observers can agree on the results.
Tests are supposed to be rightly scored without
biasness. Students protesting their results
should have their complaints addressed by an
independent examiner who should be in
agreement with the first examiner. Objectivity
of the tests place students at their right places
in a fair and most transparent manner. On a
number of occasions, teachers have revisited
their marking schemes and already marked
scripts to ensure students have received the
right grades in line with the expectation of the
examinations.
Discrimination
Tests are informative. They are supposed to
separate the achievers from non-achievers. This
information.is important for the examiner in a
number of ways:
• Promotion of students from one stage to the
other
• For counseling purposes. The underlying
reasons why students don’t perform may be
investigated and addressed.
• Placement of students in the right careers.
Certain careers need specific grades in a
particular test. Testing would be useful for
grouping students for that particular
profession.
• Remedial teaching. Remedial or private
tuition may not need the whole class. Tests
administered will assist the teacher to have
students who need special attention
Validity
The validity component of a test is when the
test measures exactly what is supposed to
measure. The content of the test must reflect the
objectives of the course. Teachers should be
guided by the scope of the syllabus and what
they have taught students have an easy time to
achieve the right outcome of the course. It’s
wrong for professional teachers to expect the
students to questions that they don’t understand
and cannot explain their source(s). Teachers
can check with the relevant syllabus and other
teaching materials to ensure that the test is
valid.
Ease of scoring
Tests are in reality not meant to fail students.
Tests communicate the level of learners’
understanding at any particular time. To
achieve this, teachers need to set examinations
with proper instructions on how the marks will
be awarded in all sections. Examinations must
be relevant to the level tested and the words
used should be clear and understandable. The
teacher should create a conducive examination
environment and provide all the necessary
facilities needed during this examination.
Limitations of examinations
Examinations have been trusted worldwide as
the most recommended way of placing or
proving peoples’ competence in a number of
fields. Therefore, there are no notable countries
that are known not to rely on one or many
different examinations. However, here are the
views of the examinations:
• They say examinations are injurious to the
health of those taking them causing
overstrain, nervousness, worry and
undesired mental results
• The content covered by examination
questions does not agree with the
recognized objectives of education but
instead encourages cramming.
• Examinations encourage cheating.
 • Examinations develop habits of careless
use of English and poor handwriting
because of the stress of writing voluminous
examination documents

EVALUATION
As already been explained earlier, evaluation
aims at establishing the efficiency and
effectiveness of the program. When people talk
of evaluation, we are referring to the different
processes, products and persons that are subject
to evaluation. In educational set up, these may
include: student, curricula, schools, school
systems, large populations, special programs or
projects and personnel. Therefore, if we speak
of evaluation, we do not exactly mean different
evaluation processes. It depends on what is
evaluated and how it is evaluated.
Why evaluate students?
We evaluate for:
 • Administrative purposes
The ministry of education and the school
determines the effectiveness of the different
systems of the school using the evaluation
reports. Evaluation will give the correct report
on areas that should be improved and the right
strategies for improvement that should be put
in place. The administration makes the
decisions on placement of students, selection of
students to join a school and courses to be
offered in a school based on evaluation reports.
• Career placement
Students are constantly counseled based on the
evaluation report. The right career path may be
based on formative evaluation and later on
confirmed by summative evaluation. Formative
evaluation will help students to place students
in different career paths. Some students may be
willing to be enrolled in courses but evaluation
will guide the teachers on how to advise the
students. This kind of evaluation is based on
aptitude tests, students’ interests and
standardized tests usually administered by class
teachers.
• Instructional purposes
Instruction is the role of a teacher. The teacher
cannot be in a position to do adequate self-
evaluation. Therefore, he or she has to rely on
communication from other sources. The other
sources could be the head of the institution,
students, parents and the government.
Evaluation helps a teacher in several ways:
✓ He or she will learn what the students
want
✓ To understand students more based on
their entry levels
✓ To modify or maintain his teaching
strategies
✓ To get a report on the achievement of
the lesson objectives
 ✓ To plan better for his school activities.
Evaluation report will reveal his weak areas
that need more inputs.
Types of evaluation
Many scholars have come up with different
types of evaluation but for purposes of this
study we are going to look at the following
types of evaluation in relation to education:
1.Placement evaluation
2.Formative evaluation
3.Summative evaluation
4.Diagnostic evaluation
Placement evaluation
Just as the name suggests, placement
evaluation is used to correctly position a
student in the right instructional sequence
based on his or her previous achievement. The
previous achievement could assist the teachers
to stream students according to ability or
subjects. The students could be fixed in
science, arts, mathematics etc based on the
evaluation report. An aptitude test or entry test
could be necessary to accurately classify
students in terms of their different abilities.
Most placement evaluations are carried out at
the beginning of the learning period and more
so to students whose academic backgrounds are
unclear to the teachers. Examples of placement
tests include aptitude tests, achievement tests
etc
Formative evaluation
The purpose of formative evaluation is to give
both the student and the teacher the feedback
towards the mastery of a relatively small unit of
study. Formative test are conducted at every
point of learning. Some are offered after
covering a subtopic, topic, unit etc. However,
the results from the formative tests do not
wholly determine the final grade in a course.
Some institutions consider them as continuous
assessment test. In some schools, they are
referred to as mock examinations. Formative
evaluations are used to monitor the progress of
students from time to time. In areas of
weaknesses, formative evaluation is used to
direct subsequent teaching or study. They are
also used to prepare the students for the final
examinations. Examples of formative
evaluation are weekly tests, monthly tests, class
assignments etc
Diagnostic evaluation
The main function of diagnostic evaluation is
to establish some unknown factors that either
directly or indirectly affect the students’
performance but are not directly related to
instructional practices. Diagnostic evaluation
establishes extra-classroom factors that may
not be related to academics but simultaneously
find their way into student’s performance.
These factors should be identified by the
teacher so that appropriate corrective measures
such as counseling are put in place. It should be
noted diagnostic evaluation has no end because
most of these extra-classroom factors originate
from the environment where we live. Teachers’
evaluation should be based on the student’s
behavior symptoms. In most cases diagnostic
evaluation is done as a follow up plan for
poorly done formative tests. The underlying
reasons for such poor performance could be
linked to some other factors outside teaching or
learning. Examples of such tests could be
interviews, observations etc.
Summative evaluation
This type of evaluation is conducted at the end
of the learning program to determine the
achievement of the study objectives. It is called
summative evaluation because it summarizes
what had been learnt from the beginning of the
course or program to the end. It marks the end
of the learning process at some stage and a
certificate is provided as a proof. There are
different ways by which summative evaluation
are conducted. Some are done to mark the end
of early grade studies, for example, Kenya
Certificate of Primary Education. At some
levels such as the university, summative
evaluations are based on trimesters/semesters,
academic years and final grading at the end of
the study period. Summative evaluations are
used for the judgment of the entire process. The
judgment could be based on the suitability of
the curriculum, teachers, students and learning
process.
Learning activity
In your own words, explain how you would
carry out diagnostic evaluation in your school.